1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to toasters, i.e. devices for heating and/or browning bread, rolls, muffins and other food items.
More particularly, the invention relates to a novel toaster which requires less space, is more efficient and can be more easily handled than those known heretofore.
The invention also relates to a toaster having improved circuitry for controlling its operational functions.
2. The Prior Art
Toasters are per se well known in a large variety of types and are used in households, as well as commercially, to brown (i.e. "toast") slices of bread, muffins or the like, and also to toast other items of food and/or to warm such items. Early models of electric household toasters were first marketed in the early 1900's and automatic toasters came on the market about 1930.
The type of toaster used in household applications usually has a square or rectangular housing provided in its top surface with one or two (sometimes up to four) slots into which slices of bread or similar food items are partially inserted. Thereafter the user depresses a handle which causes the food items to be mechanically lowered into the interior of the housing, to bring them opposite the electrical heating elements which then effect the toasting. A device is usually provided for varying the degree to which the items are toasted (i.e. just how light or dark the process is to make them). When the selected degree of toasting is approximately reached (exact selection of color is not possible), an ejector mechanism abruptly raises the food items through the slots back to their original position in which they extend partially from the housing, so that they can be manually removed.
To be perfect for consumption the toast should be crisp, not "soggy". This cannot be achieved if the food items are removed from the toaster and "piled together" on a plate or in a basket, because small amounts if moisture inherent in the articles are being expelled due to the heating which the articles have undergone. If the e.g. slices of toast are in immediate proximity with one another, the moisture of each slice cannot properly escape or, if it does, simply re-enters the adjacent slice; the result is "soggy" toast. To avoid this problem, toast racks have been developed which hold the slices of toast upright and spaced from one another so that escaping moisture can dissipate to the ambient air and the toast remains crisp and dry. These toast racks are entirely separate items from the toasters themselves.
The known toasters suffer from various disadvantages. One of these is the fact that a relatively complicated mechanical arrangement must be provided to first lower and then raise the slices of bread; this invites malfunctions and is reflected in the price of the toaster. Moreover, once the toast "pops up" it is quite hot and manual removal of the slices--with concomitant burning of the remover's fingers--can be unpleasant. Aside from this, it is generally not desired that the toast should be touched repeatedly before it comes to the table for consumption.
Other types of toasters are also known. For example, commercial high-volume toasters are known from e.g. German Pat. No. 1,778,923 and German Published Applications Nos. 2,333,619, 1,946,901 and 1,654,919. A flip-type toaster, i.e. one in which the toast slices are flipped relative to the heating elements and which has no mechanism for raising or lowering the slices, is made by the German Siemens Corporation (Type TT 8000). A toaster having a variable-volume toasting chamber is known from German Published Application No. 2,130,55. Aside from the complexity of their construction, all these toasters also require manual removal of the toasted slices, leading to potential burning of the user's fingers and requiring touching of the toast before it comes to the table for consumption.